tweeky

Its a done deal
SAINTS SEND SEVENTH-ROUND PICK TO MIAMI FOR LB DERRICK RODGERS
For Immediate Release
May 27, 2003


Continuing the effort to add speed and experience to an improved defense, the New Orleans Saints have traded their seventh-round pick in 2004 to the Miami Dolphins for LB Derrick Rodgers, it was announced today by the club.


“Rodgers is the kind of player we have targeted for the defense since last season ended,� said Coach Jim Haslett. “He can fly to the ball and close gaps. Derrick is also a proven veteran, having played in over 90 games and seven postseason contests. We have gotten deeper, more experienced and faster with this trade, and we’re excited to have him.�


Rodgers, 6-foot-1, 230 pounds, started 89 of 93 games at weakside linebacker for the Dolphins after being drafted in the third-round in 1997 (92nd overall). In his career, he has posted 378 tackles (248 solo), nine sacks, four forced fumbles and three interceptions. Rodgers twice won the Dolphins’ Leadership Award (2000-01), as voted on by his teammates, and was named Sports Illustrated’s NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1997. In 2002, he started 15 of 16 games and recorded 74 tackles and two interceptions.


Rodgers attended St. Augustine High School in New Orleans, but he did not play football, instead playing the trumpet as a member of the school’s nationally-renowned marching band. He graduated from high school in 1989 and then served four years as a medical technician in the U.S. Air Force – where he was stationed for more than two years in Okinawa, Japan – before enrolling at Riverside (Calif.) Community College in 1994. Rodgers played for Riverside for two seasons before attending Arizona State in 1996, where he was named first-team All-Pac-10 after posting 12 sacks. He left school following his junior season.